Overview
- Flagstaff police named James Arthur Runnels Jr., now of Glendale and a Flagstaff resident in 1987, as the suspect and said he is in custody on a first-degree murder charge.
- Investigators say 24-year-old Northern Arizona University student Ina Claire Langstaff was found stabbed outside her Old Town Flagstaff apartment in November 1987.
- Detectives reexamined original evidence and sent several items for advanced DNA analysis at the Arizona DPS Northern Regional Crime Lab and private lab Bode Technology.
- The testing produced a lead in 2025 that identified Runnels, and prosecutors later secured a Coconino County grand jury indictment for first-degree murder.
- Authorities asked anyone with information to call Flagstaff Police or Silent Witness, noting community tips could help close gaps left by decades without answers.